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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: date · shower · land · wake · bass · wind · bat · rock

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  8. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  9. Have you settled on a ________________?
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  12. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  13. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. rock — a stone
  3. wind — moving air
  4. land — ground
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. rock — to move gently
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. date — the fruit
  12. bass — the fish
  13. rock — music
  14. bat — the animal
  15. bass — low music
  16. shower — rain
  17. wind — moving air
  18. shower — to wash
  19. land — to come down
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. bass — the instrument
  23. wake — a trail
  24. wake — to stop sleeping

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com